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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pass — a permit
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. rest — what's left
  6. chest — a box
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. hand — help
  9. degree — an amount
  10. tear — from crying
  11. chest — of your body
  12. degree — from a university
  13. snap — to click
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. rest — what's left
  16. tear — to rip
  17. hand — in cards
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. rest — a break
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. degree — temperature
  23. pass — to succeed
  24. fan — a supporter

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com